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Pumped full of unapproved drugs not available to average Americans plus a steroid, President Donald Trump mounted the steps of the White House on Monday night, told Americans not to be afraid of Covid-19 and promised them they’d beat it.
“Don’t let it dominate you,” he said, although the White House has been dramatically changed by his diagnosis and the continued positive test results of staffers.
In the hours since Trump’s recorded message, a positive case at the Pentagon, a warning from the Federal Reserve, a rare move against him by social media companies and a string of bad news in polling have all conspired against the fog of anti-reality he keeps around him.
Fed chairman warns of economic tragedy just before Trump ends stimulus talks
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell all but implored Americans to social distance and wear masks to help get Covid under control.
A second wave of coronavirus could “more significantly limit economic activity, not to mention the tragic effects on lives and well-being,” Powell said. “Managing this risk as the expansion continues will require following medical experts’ guidance, including using masks and social-distancing measures.”
And he said Congress should pass a massive new stimulus measure.
From CNN’s report:
Powell said Tuesday that the risks of Congress pouring too much stimulus into the economy are far lower than the risk of not doing enough. Although government spending is adding to an already sky-high federal budget, lawmakers should act, Powell argued.
“The US federal budget is on an unsustainable path, has been for some time,” Powell said. But “this is not the time to give priority to those concerns.”
A few hours later, Trump said he would halt stimulus negotiations until after Election Day.
Contradicting Trump’s warning about a Democratic victory in November, a Goldman Sachs forecast said a blue wave and unified government would lead to a swifter recovery. And that’s despite the likely higher taxes Democrats would push for many Americans.
The Joint Chiefs are in quarantine
Top US military brass, including the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Mark Milley, are in self-quarantine after the vice commandant of the Coast Guard, Adm. Charles Ray, tested positive for Covid on Monday.
That the virus penetrated the Pentagon should not be surprising. The White House has already clearly been the site of a coronavirus outbreak that infected the President, his wife, his staffers, White House domestic staff, journalists and others.
Why not the Pentagon?
But the infection of top members of the military is the factual opposite of Trump’s projection of strength Monday.
Twitter and Facebook take down or mark Trump’s comments
Trump suggested Covid is less deadly than the flu, which was a common argument months ago, before hundreds of thousands of Americans had died.
Now Covid, which is less than a year old, has killed more Americans than the last five flu seasons combined.
What Trump said is the opposite of true.
The President routinely lies or misrepresents things. This is one of the few times during the 2020 presidential campaign that he’s been called on it by the social media companies. Facebook removed the post and Twitter labeled it misleading.
He responded by seeming to demand that their exemption to lawsuits for content be revoked. That’s a good conversation to have and very well worth doing, but he should remember that a fair amount of disinformation is circulated on his behalf.
Polls suggest difficulty for Trump with base supporters
A new CNN poll conducted by SSRS suggests a lead for Joe Biden: 57% to Trump’s 41% among likely voters.
Obligatory note from CNN’s polling director, Jennifer Agiesta: “Regardless of Biden’s national lead, the race for the White House will ultimately come down to a handful of swing states that will drive the outcome in the Electoral College. The former vice president leads in several of those critical battlegrounds, but by more narrow margins than his national advantage. A poll is not a prediction of how the election will ultimately turn out but instead is a snapshot of the race as it currently stands.”
Biden’s lead is different from Hillary Clinton’s, according to Harry Enten: “Look at Biden’s vote percentage. He’s at just a little bit north of 50% in the average of all the national polls. Clinton’s support was only in the low 40s before the debates. Even Trump, averaging around 43% in the polls, is getting a higher percentage than he was four years ago at this time. There were a lot more undecided or third party voters at this point in the 2016 cycle. A little less than 20% of voters were undecided or going with a third party candidate. Today, it’s less than 10%.”
Nine in 10 voters have already made up their minds about the election, according to the data.
Also, Trump’s lead over Biden on the economy has vanished – CNN’s Matt Egan points out that the two candidates are essentially even in CNN’s poll on who can better handle the economy. “The findings represent a sharp drop in support for Trump in what had previously been his greatest strength,” he wrote.
In praise of short speeches
Biden gave a speech today at Gettysburg about “the soul of a nation” and racial inequality and promising to be a president who unites people.The actual Gettysburg Address, delivered by Abraham Lincoln in November of 1863, is notable for its unifying content but also for its brevity.
Here’s hoping US politicians today can learn to cram something meaningful and memorable into 270 or so words and three minutes.
On Instagram I posted two images of the “Nicolay copy,” one of five known copies of Lincoln’s speech and the one most likely to be a predelivery draft, according to the Library of Congress online exhibition.
John George Nicolay was Lincoln’s private secretary. The Executive Mansion mentioned on page one is the White House.
The two pages don’t exactly match – one is on the aforementioned stationery and the other on drafting paper. The end of one page doesn’t match up with the words on the second, either. It is thought that Lincoln rewrote the last paragraph in Gettysburg before giving the speech on November 19, 1863.
That last paragraph is where he called for a “new birth of freedom,” something we didn’t completely achieve in the intervening 157 years.